Only Fools Pay Estate Tax?

Among the many recent head-spinning statements issued from the Trump administration regarding tax reform, a comment by Gary Cohn, the chief White House economic adviser, about the estate tax stands out for its cavalier insensitivity.

“Only morons pay the estate tax,” Mr. Cohn is quoted as having told a group of Senate Democrats this year. If this reflects Mr. Cohn’s sentiment and that of the Trump administration in general, what message does it send to the public? That such taxpayers are mentally deficient fools?

I personally know a number of people who have willingly paid this tax, and I can assure Mr. Cohn and others that they are neither suckers nor morons, but have done so with a far larger sense of social responsibility and of the common good than most members of our current administration demonstrate.